Sharing location information during a communication session

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method includes establishing a communication session between a first device and a second device. The first device is a mobile computing device. The location of the first device is received at the second device. The location of the first device is displayed on a graphical user interface of the second device during the communication session.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to sharing location information duringa communication session.

BACKGROUND

Individuals may communicate with each other using a variety of methodsincluding emails, text messages, instant messages, social networkingmessages, and other communication methods from various locations. Manytimes an interface built for carrying messaging of these types islimited specifically to the specific type of communication beingexchanged. For example, an interface that displays text messages mayonly display text messages created by the participants in thecommunication. Similarly, an interface that displays social networkingmessages may only display social networking messages created by theparticipants in the communication. For the communication participants,the narrow context of these interfaces can be limiting.

SUMMARY OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

In particular embodiments, a method includes establishing acommunication session between a first device and a second device. Thefirst device may be a mobile computing device. The second device mayreceive a location of the first device. The second device may displaythe location of the first device on a graphical user interface of thesecond device during the communication session.

Users of communication systems often communicate with one another fromdisparate geographic locations. During a communication session, such aswhen communicating via text messages, a user may want to provide his orher location to the other participants of the conversation, for example,to facilitate meeting in person. In this example, the user may try toprovide the location manually using text messages and/or may resort tocalling the other participants of the conversation to give a verbaldescription of their location. If the user's location is changing (e.g.,because they are moving to meet the other participants), the user mayhave to continually provide the location manually. Additionally, thismanual form of location sharing may be limiting if, for example, theuser does not know her exact location or cannot articulate her locationprecisely. Particular embodiments of the present disclosure allow theuser's mobile device to automatically provide his or her location toother conversation participants. The location provided may be moreaccurate than what the user could have provided manually. Furthermore,the location may be updated periodically as the user's geographiclocation changes. Moreover, the other participants may be able to viewboth the user's location and the previous messages in the communicationsession at the same time.

During a communication session, participants may use various methods ofcommunication, such as text messages, voice calls, and instant messages.The user may want to provide his location to another conversationparticipant across these disparate communication mediums. Particularembodiments of the present disclosure allow aggregation of thesecommunication types on an interface of the other participants while alsoproviding location information.

Certain embodiments of the invention may include none, some, or all ofthe above technical advantages. One or more other technical advantagesmay be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the figures,descriptions, and claims included herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example social networking environment.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example graphical user interfaces for twoclient devices participating in a communication session.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate example graphical user interfaces for aclient device that receives a request to share its location with one ormore other client devices.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example graphical user interfaces for aclient device that receives location information from another clientdevice.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for sharing location information ofa client device with one or more other client devices.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example computing system.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example social networking environment 10. Socialnetworking environment 10 may include a social networking system 100,client devices 180 a, 180 b, and 180 c, network 160, wireless cellularnetwork 300, and third-party services including third-party websites190, third-party instant messaging (IM) service 210, third-party socialmedia site 220, voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service 230, videoservice 240, and other third-party services 250. Social networkingenvironment 10 may include any suitable number of client devices 180.Client devices 180 may comprise any type of mobile or stationarycomputing device, including a mobile phone, personal digital assistant,laptop, netbook, ultrabook, tablet, desktop computer, cable box,television, or other suitable device. In the illustrated embodiment,client devices 180 a and 180 b are depicted as mobile phones and clientdevice 180 c is depicted as a desktop computer. Client devices 180 a and180 b may connect to network 160 through wireless cellular network 300and may be coupled to client device 180 c through network 160.

Network 160 may include one or more interconnected networks over whichvarious systems and hosts described herein may communicate. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable network 160. As an example and notby way of limitation, one or more portions of network 160 may include anad hoc network, an intranet, a private network, an extranet, a virtualprivate network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network, awireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, apacket-based wide-area network, a portion of the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, a satellitenetwork, a paging network, or a combination of two or more of these.

Wireless cellular network 300 may include one or more interconnectednetworks over which various systems and hosts described herein maycommunicate. This disclosure contemplates any suitable wireless cellularnetwork 300. For example, wireless cellular network 300 may include oneor more base stations that communicate wirelessly with one or moreclient devices 180. Wireless cellular network may facilitatecommunication between client devices 180, network 160, and othercomponents coupled to network 160.

Third-party websites 190 may include, but are not limited to,social-networking websites, shopping sites, review sites such as Yelp!,or any third-party website with which a user maintains an account tointeract with content or other users. Third-party IM service 210 mayinclude, but is not limited to, Google Chat or a similar serviceallowing users to send instant messages to each other. Third-partysocial media site 220 may include, but is not limited to, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google Plus, or other social media site. VoIP service 230 mayinclude, but is not limited to, Skype or a similar service that offersvoice calls over IP. Video service 240 may include, but is not limitedto, FaceTime, Tango, or other similar service that offers video calls.Other services 250 may include e-mail servers, storage facilities, orother third-party services that may communicate with social networkingsystem 100 or clients 180 through network 160.

A client device 180 may interact with the third-party services through aweb browser or a dedicated application local to the client device 180.For example, client devices 180 may interact with third-party instantmessaging service 210, such as Google Chat, by logging into a user'sGmail account via a web browser or by installing and running a dedicatedGoogle Talk application. Similarly, a client device 180 may interactwith a third-party social media site 220, such as Twitter, via a browseror through a dedicated Twitter application. Client devices may similarlycommunicate with third-party websites 190, VoIP service 230, videoservice 240, and other third-party services 250.

A user of a client device 180 interacts with the social networkingsystem 100 via an application, such as a web browser or a dedicatedapplication of client device 180, to perform operations such as browsingcontent, posting and sending communications, retrieving and sortingcommunications received from other users, and the like. Communicationsmay be in any suitable format such as electronic mail (“e-mail”)messages, chat messages, comments left on a user's webpage, and shortmessage service (SMS) text messages. Messages may contain text or othercontent such as pictures, videos, sounds, and attachments. Each user hasa mailbox that includes communications that are both sent and receivedby the user.

Client device 180 a may also interact with other client devices 180through wireless network 300 or network 160. For example, client device180 a may participate in VoIP or non-VoIP calls with other cellularphones, computers, landlines, or other communication devices, transmitand receive texts or multi-media message through the SMS or multimediamessaging service (MMS) channels, or receive push notifications throughthe SMS control channel.

Third party services may interact with social networking system 100 viaan application programming interface (API) 150. For example, a thirdparty website 190 may perform operations supported by API 150, such asdelivering user communications to social network system 100, retrievinguser communications stored by social networking system 100, andobtaining social information about users of social networking system100.

Social networking system 100 enables users to interact with each otherthrough the system. Social networking system 100 may create and store arecord, often referred to as a user profile, for each user. The userprofile may include a user's contact information, backgroundinformation, employment information, demographic information, personalinterests, or other suitable information. Each user profile may bestored as an object in object store 110. Social networking system 100may also create and store a record of a user's relationship with otherusers in social networking system 100. In particular embodiments, thisinformation may be stored as a social graph in a graph information store120. In the social graph, individuals, groups, entities, ororganizations may be represented as nodes in the graph, and the nodesmay be connected by edges that represent one or more specific types ofinterdependency. Social networking system 100 may also provide services(e.g., wall-posts, photo-sharing, event organization, messaging, games,or advertisements) to facilitate social interaction between users in thesocial networking system 100. Social networking system 100 may providecontent and communications related to its services to a user's clientdevice 180 over network 160.

Mailbox module 170 of social networking system 100 providesfunctionality for powering the messaging system of social networkingsystem 100. In a particular embodiment, the mailbox module 170 receives,organizes, and presents communications to or from users in the socialnetworking system 100 via an interactive user interface. The interactiveuser interface may be, for example, a webpage that is viewed by a userwith a web browser or a dedicated application residing on the user'scomputing device 180. In particular embodiments, the interactive userinterface may be a combination of server and client side rendering,depending on processing and bandwidth capacity. Functionality providedby mailbox module 170 may include organizing communications intoconversations, quick reply, categorizing conversations, conversationstates, conversation searching, new message notification, formatting ofe-mails, forwarding communications between conversations, andinvitation-based conversation, among others. In particular embodiments,communications occurring outside of the social networking system 100 areaggregated with communications occurring through the social networkingsystem by mailbox module 170 at any suitable time, such as when a clientdevice 180 performs an aggregation operation. In particular embodiments,communications requiring interaction with third-party services arepulled automatically through one or more APIs 150 and stored at mailboxmodule 170. In particular embodiments, a mixture of client-push andserver-pulls are used to aggregate communications from various sourcesat mailbox module 170. In particular embodiments, a local application ona client device 180 performs one or more of the operations of mailboxmodule 170 and pulls communications from social network 100 andthird-party services to client device 180.

Particular embodiments of social networking environment 10 facilitatecommunication and display of the location of a client device 180 on oneor more other client devices 180 during a communication session. In oneexample embodiment, users of client devices 180 a and 180 c maycommunicate with one another using an instant messaging application. Theuser of client device 180 a is in transit to meet the user of clientdevice 180 c and, as such, decides that the location of client device180 a should be communicated to client device 180 c. The location thenmay be displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI) of client device180 c as a pin on a map. The users of client devices 180 a and 180 c maycontinue their instant messaging communication session while the user ofclient device 180 a travels to meet the user of client device 180 c andwhile the location of client device 180 a is displayed on the map of theGUI of client device 180 c. To add on to this example, the user ofclient device 180 b additionally may be added to the instant messagingcommunication session. The user of client device 180 b is also intransit to meet the user of client device 180 c. The user of clientdevice 180 b also decides to communicate the location of client device180 b to the user of client device 180 c. The location of client device180 c then may also be displayed on map of the GUI of client device 180c. In this way, the user of client device 180 c may follow the progressof the users of client devices 180 a and 180 b as they make their way touser of client device 180 c.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example GUIs 302 for two client devices, suchas client devices 180, participating in a communication session with oneanother. Users of the client devices corresponding to GUIs 302communicate with one another using any suitable communication mechanism,such as those discussed above with respect to social networkingenvironment 10 of FIG. 1. For illustrative purposes, GUI 302 a appearson a client device of User 1 and GUI 302 b appears on a client device ofUser 2. User 1 and User 2 may communicate with each other and/or otherusers. GUIs 302 include image panes 304 operable to display any suitableimage. In particular embodiments, image pane 304 a displays a picture ofUser 2. Likewise, image pane 304 b displays a picture of User 1. User 1and User 2, in certain embodiments, may select a picture to be shown onthe other user's client device during a communication session. Thesepictures may be sent from the origination device upon the start of acommunication session or may be pre-selected and stored, for example, inuser profile area 111 of object store 110. These images may also bemaintained by third-party website 190, third-party IM service 210, orany other suitable service. The preselected image may be transmitted tothe other session participants at the beginning and/or during acommunication session. In alternative embodiments, User 1 chooses theimage depicted on User 1's client device, in image pane 304 a. Likewise,User 2 may choose the image depicted on User 2's client device, in imagepane 304 b.

GUIs 302 also include message panes 306. Message panes 306 displaycommunications between User 1 and User 2. Communications may be anysuitable type of communications. For example, a communication may be anSMS or MMS message, a call (e.g., a phone call, VoIP session, a videocall), a voicemail, a push-to-talk (PTT) message, an email, an instantmessage, a tweet, a chat, a social network message (including a post ona wall of a social network website or a message sent via a socialnetwork website), or other communication between the users of the clientdevices. A communication may include text exchanged during thecommunication (e.g., the actual text of the communication or a voicetranscription of the communication) or any suitable informationregarding the communication, such as the time or duration of thecommunication, whether the communication was an outgoing, incoming, ormissed communication, or other suitable information.

Message panes 306 may include various types of communications aggregatedinto a single communication thread. For example, if User 1 sends aninstant message to User 2 and also separately sends an e-mail to User 2,both of these messages may be placed into the same communication threadand, thus, appear on message panes 306. Similarly, if User 2 leaves User1 a voicemail, an indicator of the voicemail (such as the date and timeit was left) or transcribed text from the voicemail may be placed intomessage panes 306. As another example, if User 1 calls User 2, the logof the call may also be placed in the message panes 306.

In particular embodiments, message panes 306 display communications inthe same format regardless of the type of the communications. Forexample, in certain embodiments, communication 305 is transmitted in ane-mail and communication 307 is transmitted via an SMS text message. Asshown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, communication 305 and communication 307 eachappear in a conversation bubble. Thus, the messages in message panes 306may appear in a similar format regardless of the type of the particularcommunication. In other embodiments, the format of the communicationsthat appear in message panes 306 may depend on the type of thecommunication. In such embodiments, communication 305 and communication307 may appear alongside different icons, such as an icon depicting anenvelope for an e-mail or an icon depicting a phone for an SMS textmessage.

The messages that appear in message panes 306 may appear in any suitableorder. For example, messages may be ordered based on the time of thecommunications, the types of the communications, the importance of thecommunication, or any other suitable factor. In particular embodiments,messages of a particular type may be grouped together, and the groupincluding the most recent communication may be displayed first. In otherembodiments, a communication marked as important may be displayed beforethe most recent communication. In some embodiments, a subset ofcommunications of a particular communication type are grouped together.For example, emails having a common subject may be grouped together.

Communications between User 1 and User 2 may be identified by the clientdevices in any suitable manner. The communications may be stored at anysuitable location, such as client device 180, social networking system100, a third-party service, or a combination of the preceding. Anapplication local to device 180, residing at a server hosted by socialnetworking system 100 (or at another suitable network location) mayaggregate communications between specific users engaging incommunications, regardless of where the communications are stored.

In particular embodiments, the application may communicate with devices180, social networking system 100, or third-party services 190, 210,220, 230, 240, or 250 to aggregate communications between userscommunicating messages to one another. For example, the application mayreceive communications from the social networking system 100 or thethird-party services and determine users that are participants in thecommunications. Accordingly, when the application receives a request fora conversation between particular users, the application may identifycommunications in which the users are participants. Any suitableidentifying information may be used to identify the participants in acommunication with one another. For example, the telephone number,network address, user profile identifier, or other suitable identifyinginformation may be used to identify communication participants.

In particular embodiments, social networking system 100 may facilitatedetermination of the participants in a communication session. Users ofsocial networking system 100 may be stored as objects in the socialnetworking system 100. For example, as described above, object store 110may include a profile for each user that comprises a profile name, ane-mail address, a profile picture, and other identifying information.Particular communications may include identifying information thatmatches identifying information included in the profile of a user storedin object store 110. Accordingly, one or more users of the socialnetworking system 100 that participated in the communication may beidentified by accessing information stored by object store 110. Forexample, an e-mail from firstname.lastname@yahoo.com can be identifiedfrom information in the object store 110 as being an e-mail from theuser James White. As another example, a video chat facilitated throughthird-party video service 240 may involve participants that have aspecific user ID. In particular embodiments, this user ID is stored withthe user profile in object store 110 and used to identify the socialnetwork users that participated in the video chat.

Messaging panes 306 can be updated in a real-time manner as newcommunications are received or sent. Messaging panes 306 may allow auser to scroll backwards in time (or other order) to view the entirehistory of communications in messaging panes 306. In a particularembodiment, some of the communications have attachments such aspictures, videos, documents, or other files. The attachments can beshown in the messaging panes 306 through a preview of the attachmentinstead of just a link to the attachment. For example, an attachedpicture can be shown in the interface with a thumbnail of the picture.

GUIs 302 also include message entry areas 308 that User 1 or User 2 mayuse to draft and transmit a communication to each other or another user.Message entry areas 308 may display a keyboard, activate a speechrecognition application, or effectuate other text entry means inresponse to a touch or other selection from the users. After text isentered via the keyboard, through the speech recognition application, orthrough other means, the text may be transmitted to the other users viaany suitable format. By way of example and not limitation, the text maybe transmitted according to a communication type described above. Inparticular embodiments, the default communication type used to transmitthe text is an SMS message, but any other suitable type may be used suchas an email or social network message. In a particular embodiment, thecommunication type is based on a telephone number, network address, orother identifier associated with the incoming call. For example, if theincoming call is associated with a mobile phone number, thecommunication type may default to an SMS message, whereas if theincoming call is associated with a home phone number, then a differentcommunication type such as an email may be used. In particularembodiments, the communication type is selected based on the contactinformation available for the users of the client devices or thecommunication history between the users engaging in communication. Forexample, if the majority of communications between User 1 and User 2 aree-mail, the text entered in message entry area 308 may be sent viaemail. Message entry area 308 may also include the option to attach afile to the communication, such as a picture, video, document, or otherfile, which may be accessed via option tool 310. In certain embodiments,option tool 310 may also be used to request that a location of a clientdevice for User 1 or User 2 be sent to the client device of the otheruser. The user may select option tool 310 by, for example, touching atouch screen, pressing a mechanical button such as key of a keypad or abutton of a mouse, or in any other suitable manner.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate example GUIs for a client device, such asclient device 180, that receives a request to share its location withone or more other client devices. In certain embodiments, GUIs 402 and404 represent successive screens following a user's selection of optiontool 310 a of GUI 302 a. For illustrative purposes, GUIs 402 and 404represent successive screens on the client device of User 1 from FIG.2A. GUI 402 includes a menu 406 with choices available to User 1. Inparticular embodiments, menu 406 includes “Location,” “Photo or Video,”“Place,” or “Cancel” selection options. In order to share location, theuser of the client device selects the “Location” option using anysuitable user input mechanism, such as touching a touchscreen at an areasufficiently proximate to the “Location” option on the touchscreen.

Upon choosing to share location, the user of a client device mayconfigure various options associated with the sharing. As onenon-limiting example, the user may specify timing attributes associatedwith the sharing location information as shown in GUI 404. GUI 404represents a screen the user may see after selecting the “Location”option in menu 406. GUI 408 includes a menu 408 with timing choicesavailable to a user of a client device. In embodiments where thelocation of client device is shared periodically, these timing choicesmay represent how often the location is communicated to the other clientdevices. For example, a selection of “10 minutes” may direct the clientdevice to share its location once every ten minutes. A selection of “30minutes” may direct the client device to share its location once every30 minutes while a selection of “1 hour” may direct the client device toshare its location once every hour. While the options shown in thedepicted embodiment are ten minutes, 30 minutes, and one hour, anysuitable amount of time may be selected. Smaller time intervals may havethe effect of the location of the client device being shown in“real-time” on the recipient client devices. These selections may haverepercussions on battery life if the client device is a mobile phone,for example. Using location-determining functionality frequently on amobile client device may consume battery power more quickly than usinglocation-determining functionality less frequently.

In particular embodiments, the timing options presented in menu 408represent a time period during which location information will becommunicated to recipient devices. For example, a selection of “10minutes” may direct a client device to communicate its location in anysuitable time interval for the next ten minute period. A selection of“30 minutes” may direct a client device to communicate its location inany suitable time interval for the next thirty minute time period. Aselection of “1 hour” may direct a client device to communicate itslocation in any suitable time interval for the next hour. Any othersuitable timing choices may also be made available to the user. Forexample, the user may be presented with a “Continuous” option thatdirects the client device to communicate location information in anysuitable time interval to recipient client devices indefinitely.

Where appropriate, the user may have various other choices when choosingto share location information of a client device with other clientdevices. In certain embodiments, these options may be presented in GUIssimilar to GUIs 402 and 404. For example, the user may be presented withan option to select which specific users of those who are apart of agroup communication session will receive the location information. Asanother example, the user may select an image that may be displayed torecipient user when the location is displayed on their client device.

In particular embodiments, these options may be determined prior to theuser requesting that location information be sent to recipient devicesand/or prior to the communication session. These options may be storedlocally on the client device, in a third-party service such asthird-party website 190, in object store 110, or in any other suitablelocation. For example, an application on the client device may beconfigured to automatically communicate location information torecipient devices during a communication session. In some embodiments,the user may provide a list of users to whom location information shouldbe communicated during a communication. As another example, the timingconsiderations (e.g., time limit, periodic delay amount, etc.) may bepre-configured before a communication session begins and/or before arequest is received to communicate location information.

The location of the client device may be determined in any suitablemanner. For example, an application on the client device may use celltower triangulation, Wi-Fi positioning, and/or GPS positioning todetermine location information of the client device. As another example,a geographic location of an Internet-connected computing device may beidentifiable by the computing device's IP address. The locationinformation may be communicated as geographic coordinates, addressinformation, the name of building/business, and/or in any other suitablemanner. The location information may be communicated directly to therecipient devices and/or to a service, such as social networking system100, which may then communicate the location information to recipientdevices.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example GUIs for a client device, such asclient device 180, that receives location information from anotherclient device. In particular embodiments, GUIs 502 a and 502 b representsuccessive screens on a client device that receives location informationfrom another client device. For illustrative purposes, GUIs 502 a and502 b are successive screens on the client device of User 2 from FIG.2B. Image panes 504 display a map that indicates location informationfor certain client devices involved in a communication session. Messagepanes 506 indicate messages being exchanged while location informationis being displayed in image panes 504.

In contrast to image pane 304 b that displayed solely an image of User1, image panes 504 display a map. On the map, pin indicators 510indicate the location of User 1's client device. Pin indicator 510 b maybe in a different location than pin indicator 510 a, which may indicatethat the location of User 1's client device has changed. Profilepictures 512 display an image of User 1. In certain embodiments, arrow514 indicates a direction of travel of User 1's client device. In someembodiments, the direction may be embedded in the location informationreceived from User 1's client device or from a social networking systemor third-party service. In other embodiments, the direction may bedetermined by User 2's client device by comparing previously receivedlocation information to current location information to determine adirectional vector. In certain embodiments, the direction of travel maybe indicated textually instead of or in addition to arrow 514. Imagepanes 504 may also include pin indicators 508, which indicate thelocation of User 2's client device. The recipient client device maydetermine its own location using any of the methods described above.This may assist User 2 in locating User 1 in relation to User 2. In someembodiment, a directional vector of User 2 may be shown that indicatesUser 2's direction of travel similar to arrow 514. Additionally, incommunication sessions with more than two participants, multiple otherpin indicators may be shown representing the locations of other clientdevices that are also transmitting their location information.

Although depicted generally at the top of GUIs 502, image panes mayappear in any suitable location. By way of example, image panes 504 alsocould be displayed at the bottom, left, or right of message panes 506 b.In certain embodiments, messaging panes 506 may appear as a translucentoverlay on top of image panes 504. Likewise, image panes 504 may appearas a translucent overlay on top of messaging panes 506. In certainembodiments, image pages 504 and messaging panes 506 may appear on theuser's display one at a time. In such embodiments, the other pane may beaccessible by dragging the screen using a mouse (e.g., to the left,right, up, down, etc.); by using a finger swipe on a touch screen (e.g.,to the left, right, up, down, etc.), by depressing a mechanical key onthe client device, or any other suitable method. As shown in theseexamples, the user may have multiple options for display of locationinformation of another user's client device and the messages themselvesduring a communication session.

In certain embodiments, the location information may be displayed astext rather than as a location on a map. For example, the location mayappear as an address (or any portion thereof), as an intersection,and/or as geographic coordinates. As another example, the location mayappear as the name of a building, place of business, and/or any otherlandmark. These names may be determined, for example, by comparinggeographic position with a database of buildings, business, and/orlandmarks stored in a social networking system, a third-party service,and/or in any other suitable system. The textual location informationmay appear in a dedicated position on the screen distinct from an areadesignated for the other communications between User 1 and User 2. Theposition of the textual location information on GUIs 502 may beconfigurable by User 2 (and/or User 1), through options specified in aclient application localized to a client device and/or stored in asocial networking system or other third-party service. As anotherexample, the textual location information may appear directly in thetextual communication stream that contains the other communicationsbetween User 1 and User 2. In some embodiments, the location of thetransmitting device may be depicted both graphically and textually atthe same time.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for sharing location information ofa client device with one or more other client devices. The method maybegin at step 602, where a communication session is established betweentwo or more client devices. In certain embodiments, this step comprisesre-establishing a prior communication session between users of clientdevices, such that the continued conversations appear on a display ofthe client device along with the prior conversations. A socialnetworking system, third-party service, the client device may establishthe communication session among the participating client devices. Atstep 604, a request is received to provide location information of aclient device to one or more other devices. This request may occurduring the communication session or, in certain embodiments, may occuroutside of the communication session as a pre-programmed configurationor as part of an initial user set up of a location-sharing feature. Atstep 606, the location of the computing device is determined. A socialnetworking system or a third-party service may determine the location ofthe computing device by receiving the location information from a clientdevice, which may determine its own location in any suitable manner aspreviously described. At step 608, the determined location may becommunicated to one or more other recipient client devices, which may bedisplayed on such recipient devices at step 610. At step 612, additionalintervening messages made by the participants of the communicationsession may be displayed on the client devices. These messages may bedisplayed while the recipient client device is displaying the determinedlocation of the client device that is sharing its location. At step 614,the method determines whether the transmitting client device willcontinue to share its location information. If not (e.g., because aspecified time limit has passed), the method may end. If thetransmitting client device will continue to share its locationinformation, the method continues to step 616. At step 616, the methodwaits for a specified time before determining updated locationinformation. At 618, the method determines whether there are anyadditional devices to add to the communication session. For example, oneof the participants may choose to add another user to the communicationsession using an application residing on the client device. If not, themethod returns to step 606, where updated location information of thetransmitting client device is determined. If so, the additional devicesare added during step 620. The method then returns to step 606 todetermine updated location information. If additional devices have beenadded, those additional devices may also receive the updated locationinformation to display on their on GUIs.

Particular embodiments may repeat the steps of the method of FIG. 5,where appropriate. Moreover, although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular steps of the method of FIG. 5 as occurring in aparticular order, this disclosure contemplates any suitable steps of themethod of FIG. 5 occurring in any suitable order and/or in parallel. Forexample, the request to provide location information may occur at step604 before a communication session is established at step 602.Furthermore, although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular components, devices, or systems carrying out particular stepsof the method of FIG. 5, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecombination of any suitable components, devices, or systems carrying outany suitable steps of the method of FIG. 5. Additionally, the method mayinclude more, fewer, or different steps. For example, at step 618 clientdevices may be removed as well as added depending on the choices of theparticipating users. Removed client devices may not receive the updatedlocation information.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example computer system 700. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 700 perform one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 700 provide functionalitydescribed or illustrated herein. In particular embodiments, softwarerunning on one or more computer systems 700 performs one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein or providesfunctionality described or illustrated herein. Particular embodimentsinclude one or more portions of one or more computer systems 700.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable number of computer systems700. This disclosure contemplates computer system 700 taking anysuitable physical form. As example and not by way of limitation,computer system 700 may be an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip(SOC), a single-board computer system (SBC) (such as, for example, acomputer-on-module (COM) or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computersystem, a laptop or notebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, amainframe, a mesh of computer systems, a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a server, a tablet computer system, or acombination of two or more of these. Where appropriate, computer system700 may include one or more computer systems 700; be unitary ordistributed; span multiple locations; span multiple machines; spanmultiple datacenters; or reside in a cloud, which may include one ormore cloud components in one or more networks. Where appropriate, one ormore computer systems 700 may perform without substantial spatial ortemporal limitation one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein. As an example and not by way of limitation, oneor more computer systems 700 may perform in real time or in batch modeone or more steps of one or more methods described or illustratedherein. One or more computer systems 700 may perform at different timesor at different locations one or more steps of one or more methodsdescribed or illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 700 includes a processor 702,memory 704, storage 706, an input/output (I/O) interface 708, acommunication interface 710, and a bus 712. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 702 includes hardware for executinginstructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 702 mayretrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, aninternal cache, memory 704, or storage 706; decode and execute them; andthen write one or more results to an internal register, an internalcache, memory 704, or storage 706. In particular embodiments, processor702 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. This disclosure contemplates processor 702 including anysuitable number of any suitable internal caches, where appropriate. Asan example and not by way of limitation, processor 702 may include oneor more instruction caches, one or more data caches, and one or moretranslation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in the instructioncaches may be copies of instructions in memory 704 or storage 706, andthe instruction caches may speed up retrieval of those instructions byprocessor 702. Data in the data caches may be copies of data in memory704 or storage 706 for instructions executing at processor 702 tooperate on; the results of previous instructions executed at processor702 for access by subsequent instructions executing at processor 702 orfor writing to memory 704 or storage 706; or other suitable data. Thedata caches may speed up read or write operations by processor 702. TheTLBs may speed up virtual-address translation for processor 702. Inparticular embodiments, processor 702 may include one or more internalregisters for data, instructions, or addresses. This disclosurecontemplates processor 702 including any suitable number of any suitableinternal registers, where appropriate. Where appropriate, processor 702may include one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs); be a multi-coreprocessor; or include one or more processors 702. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular processor, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable processor.

In particular embodiments, memory 704 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 702 to execute or data for processor 702 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system700 may load instructions from storage 706 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 700) to memory 704. Processor 702may then load the instructions from memory 704 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 702 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 702 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor702 may then write one or more of those results to memory 704. Inparticular embodiments, processor 702 executes only instructions in oneor more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 704 (asopposed to storage 706 or elsewhere) and operates only on data in one ormore internal registers or internal caches or in memory 704 (as opposedto storage 706 or elsewhere). One or more memory buses (which may eachinclude an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor 702 tomemory 704. Bus 712 may include one or more memory buses, as describedbelow. In particular embodiments, one or more memory management units(MMUs) reside between processor 702 and memory 704 and facilitateaccesses to memory 704 requested by processor 702. In particularembodiments, memory 704 includes random access memory (RAM). This RAMmay be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate, this RAMmay be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, whereappropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable RAM. Memory 704 may include one ormore memories 704, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular memory, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable memory.

In particular embodiments, storage 706 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 706may include an HDD, a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc,a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB)drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 706 may includeremovable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage706 may be internal or external to computer system 700, whereappropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 706 is non-volatile,solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 706 includesread-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may bemask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these. Thisdisclosure contemplates mass storage 706 taking any suitable physicalform. Storage 706 may include one or more storage control unitsfacilitating communication between processor 702 and storage 706, whereappropriate. Where appropriate, storage 706 may include one or morestorages 706. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular storage, this disclosure contemplates any suitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 708 includes hardware,software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 700 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system700 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 700. As an example and not by way of limitation, anI/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse,printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen,trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination oftwo or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 708 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 708 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 702 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 708 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 708, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 710 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 700 and one or more other computer systems 700 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 710 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 710 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 700 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 700 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAXnetwork, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitablewireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Computersystem 700 may include any suitable communication interface 710 for anyof these networks, where appropriate. Communication interface 710 mayinclude one or more communication interfaces 710, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particularcommunication interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecommunication interface.

In particular embodiments, bus 712 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 700 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 712 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, oranother suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 712may include one or more buses 712, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

This disclosure contemplates one or more computer-readable storage mediaimplementing any suitable storage. In particular embodiments, acomputer-readable storage medium implements one or more portions ofprocessor 702 (such as, for example, one or more internal registers orcaches), one or more portions of memory 704, one or more portions ofstorage 706, or a combination of these, where appropriate. In particularembodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implements RAM or ROM.In particular embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implementsvolatile or persistent memory. In particular embodiments, one or morecomputer-readable storage media embody software. Herein, reference tosoftware may encompass one or more applications, bytecode, one or morecomputer programs, one or more executables, one or more instructions,logic, machine code, one or more scripts, or source code, and viceversa, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, software includesone or more application programming interfaces (APIs). This disclosurecontemplates any suitable software written or otherwise expressed in anysuitable programming language or combination of programming languages.In particular embodiments, software is expressed as source code orobject code. In particular embodiments, software is expressed in ahigher-level programming language, such as, for example, C, Perl, or asuitable extension thereof. In particular embodiments, software isexpressed in a lower-level programming language, such as assemblylanguage (or machine code). In particular embodiments, software isexpressed in JAVA. In particular embodiments, software is expressed inHyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), orother suitable markup language.

Herein, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium or media mayinclude one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits(ICs) (such, as for example, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) orapplication-specific ICs (ASICs)), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid harddrives (HHDs), optical discs, optical disc drives (ODDs),magneto-optical discs, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppydisk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs),RAM-drives, SECURE DIGITAL cards or drives, any other suitablecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media, or any suitablecombination of two or more of these, where appropriate. Acomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile,non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, whereappropriate.

Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicatedotherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B”means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicatedotherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,”unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.

The scope of this disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsdescribed or illustrated herein that a person having ordinary skill inthe art would comprehend. The scope of this disclosure is not limited tothe example embodiments described or illustrated herein. Moreover,although this disclosure describes and illustrates respectiveembodiments herein as including particular components, elements,functions, operations, or steps, any of these embodiments may includeany combination or permutation of any of the components, elements,functions, operations, or steps described or illustrated anywhere hereinthat a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.Furthermore, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or systemor a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to,capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative toperform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system,component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated,turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or componentis so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, oroperative.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: establishing a communicationsession between a first device and a second device, wherein the firstdevice is a mobile computing device; receiving a request to providelocation information associated with the first device; determining,using a processor, a location of the first device; and communicating,using the processor, the location of the first device to the seconddevice, wherein a graphical user interface of the second device displaysone or more messages exchanged between the first device and the seconddevice in a message pane while displaying the location of the firstdevice in an image pane during the communication session.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: communicating the location of the firstdevice to the second device periodically, wherein the location of thefirst device is periodically updated on the graphical user interface ofthe second device during the communication session.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: ending communication of the location of thefirst device to the second device within a specified time limit.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first device is one of a plurality ofdevices associated with a first user and the graphical user interface ofthe second device displays the location of the first device and acommunication from another of the plurality of devices associated withthe first user.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: extendingthe communication session to a third device; and communicating thelocation of the first device to the third device, wherein the locationof the first device is displayed on a graphical user interface of thethird device at the same time as the location of the first device isdisplayed on the graphical user interface of the second device.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: extending the communicationsession to a third device; and communicating the location of the firstdevice to the third device, wherein the location of the first device andthe location of the second device is displayed on a graphical userinterface of the third device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thegraphical user interface of the second device indicates a direction oftravel of the first device.
 8. An apparatus comprising: a processoroperable to: establish a communication session between a first deviceand a second device, wherein the first device is a mobile computingdevice; receive a request to provide location information associatedwith the first device; determine a location of the first device; andwherein the processor is coupled to an interface and is further operableto: communicate the location of the first device to the second device;wherein a graphical user interface of the second device is operable todisplay one or more messages exchanged between the first device and thesecond device in a message pane while displaying the location of thefirst device in an image pane during the communication session.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operable tocommunicate the location of the first device to the second deviceperiodically, wherein the graphical user interface of second device isoperable to display an updated location of the first device during thecommunication session.
 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein theprocessor is further operable to end communication of the location ofthe first device to the second device within a specified time limit. 11.The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a selected one of the first device andthe second device is operable to: extend the communication session to athird device; and communicate the location of the first device to thethird device, wherein a graphical user interface of the third device isoperable to display the location of the first device at the same time asthe location of the first device is displayed on the graphical userinterface of the second device.
 12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein aselected one of the first device and the second device is operable to:extend the communication session to a third device; and communicate thelocation of the first device to the third device, wherein the graphicaluser interface of the third device is operable to concurrently displaythe location of the first device and the location of the second device.13. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodyinglogic that is operable when executed to: establish a communicationsession between a first device and a second device, wherein the firstdevice is a mobile computing device; receive a request to providelocation information associated with the first device; determine alocation of the first device; and communicate the location of the firstdevice to the second device; wherein a graphical user interface of thesecond device is operable to display one or more messages exchangedbetween the first device and the second device in a message pane whiledisplaying the location of the first device in an image pane during thecommunication session.
 14. The media of claim 13, wherein the logic isfurther operable to communicate the location of the first device to thesecond device periodically, wherein the graphical user interface ofsecond device is operable to display an updated location of the firstdevice during the communication session.
 15. The media of claim 13,wherein the logic is further operable to end communication of thelocation of the first device to the second device within a specifiedtime limit.
 16. The media of claim 13, wherein a selected one of thefirst device and the second device is operable to: extend thecommunication session to a third device; and communicate the location ofthe first device to the third device, wherein a graphical user interfaceof the third device is operable to display the location of the firstdevice at the same time as the location of the first device is displayedon the graphical user interface of the second device.
 17. The media ofclaim 13, wherein a selected one of the first device and the seconddevice is operable to: extend the communication session to a thirddevice; and communicate the location of the first device to the thirddevice, wherein the graphical user interface of the third device isoperable to concurrently display the location of the first device andthe location of the second device.
 18. A method comprising: establishinga communication session between a first device and a second device,wherein the first device is a mobile computing device; receiving alocation of the first device at the second device; and displaying, usinga processor, the location of the first device a in an image pane of agraphical user interface of the second device while displaying one ormore messages exchanged between the first device and the second devicein a message pane during the communication session.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, further comprising: receiving the location of the first deviceat the second device periodically; and periodically updating thelocation of the first device on the graphical user interface of thesecond device during the communication session.
 20. The method of claim18, further comprising indicating a direction of travel of the firstdevice on the graphical user interface of the second device.